James Potter's Brilliant Idea
by AlwaysSenninDavis
Summary: James Potter is determined to show his brother that he is the best and sets out to get the best girl in the school to go out with him. What could possibly go wrong? Will he fall for the right person? Will she? Eventual SLASH. James Sirius Potter/OC
1. Prologue

Hi, so this is my first fic, please read and review, I hope you like it.

Everything belongs to J., anything you don't recognise is mine.

Thanks =)

James Potter's Brilliant Idea

Prologue 

As soon as James Sirius Potter was deemed old enough to be told the truth about his heritage he had assumed that, as Harry Potter's eldest child he would be the next "famous Potter", he was wrong. James did make his mark of course, when he entered the Hogwarts great hall for the first time and the crowds of students were faced with Harry Potter's son, James did get a great deal of attention. However it was what happened after that caught James by surprise. In his first year at Hogwarts James quickly established himself as the new bad boy and head of, as he and his friends thought themselves, the new marauders. With the arrival of his second year James had expected to continue this line of attention and popularity within Hogwarts, and that most probably wold have been the case if it has not been for one tiny little problem. Albus Potter. Now James loved his brother dearly as could only be expected in a family such as the Weasley-Potter clan, but he had not expected Albus to intrude upon his territory. By half way through the year James had to admit that Albus had over taken him in social status at school. The fact was Albus looked the part, he was the spitting image of Harry whereas James was such a blend of both Harry and Ginny that he didn't really look like anyone, it was easy for people to forget that he was Harry Potter's son too. To stack the odds even further against him was that coinciding with Albus' arrival was the arrival of both Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. Everyone in the school knew that the combination of a Potter, Weasley and Malfoy in the same year could mean nothing other than gossip, and plenty of it. Finally two years later little Lily Potter entered Hogwarts with Hugo Weasley, this was news because Lily was a _girl_ a _female_ Potter, that hadn't happened before so people became fascinated with her as well. So by the time all three Potters had enrolled at Hogwarts James, although a Quidditch hero, happy and popular, he could not help but feel slightly resentful of all the extra attention his siblings got instead of him. He was an attention seeker and with namesakes like his it was hardly surprising. Although James' luck was in by the end of his sixth year when he was able to make the front page of the Daily Prophet...


	2. James Potter's Brilliant Idea's Machine

Chapter One - James Potter's Brilliant Ideas Machine

James = 6th year, Albus/Rose/Scorpius = 5th, Lily/Hugo = 3rd

The Potters were stressed. This was a family who's emotions complimented each other a little too well at times, James blamed the fact that his parent were "soul mates", therefore if one Potter was stressed the others were likely to be as well. This was intensified due to the fact that it was September 1st and they were running late, although general sibling arguments helped things along nicely.

"Come on! Come on! Boys hurry up or you'll all miss the train!...Harry that includes you! Let's move it!" Ginny was shouting over her shoulder as she squashed her children's belongings into the car, glancing behind her again she was relived to see that her sons had payed some attention to her words and were trudging out of the house. "Brilliant! You're here, now get in the car." with another frantic glance behind her Ginny roared in the direction of the Potter home "LILY. HARRY. WE WILL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU."

"Blimey mum do want to deafen us?" Albus protested

"Yeah. But if you did that we couldn't possibly be expected to do any work for weeks," sniggered James.

Ginny choose to ignore her sons' comments and opted instead for a sigh of relief as Harry strolled out of the house with Lilly close behind, waving his wand absently back at the front door to lock up.

"Calm down Ginny, we won't be late."

How they got to Kings Cross before the train left was a miracle to James, he wondered vaguely if his dad had been spending too much time with Granddad Weasley and had deiced to let him 'improve' the car. Harry had spent the short journey reassuring Ginny that nothing could turn out as badly as his own fated trip to Hogwarts with Ron in second year. James was only half listening, he had heard that story and many others far too often to be really interested any more, however he was glad of it as his mother's distraction meant that he could develop his plan for the year in peace. This was a ritual that he had been doing ever since his first year, then it had been simple; get into Gryffindor and make sure Albus didn't see how nervous he really was. Things had elaborated over the years, especially with the creation of the new marauders and the careful planning that was needed for their pranks, girls had recently started to factor into James' annual plan and this year he was going to make it his priority.

James' privet internal battle against Albus was in a current stalemate situation, both were members of the Quidditch team, and basked in the popularity that brought, as well as all the attention caused by their parentage. But this was old news now, everyone knew this and towards the end of last year James had been watching to see what the gossips were saying about him and his brother. It was very simple really, who was going to become the lucky girl who would date one of the Potter men? Both boys had had brief first girlfriends and crushed but nothing serious, so James had formulated his simple plan. He was going to get the best looking girl in the whole of Hogwarts to go out with him.

The Potter family car pulled up in Kings Cross station car park with ten minutes to spare, and by the time all the trunks and belongings had been pilled onto trollies and the family were striding towards the barrier they only had five minutes before the train departed.

"Ok, everyone go through, quickly now, just run," Harry called stepping to one side so his children could pass through the barrier first.

James and Albus quickened their pace and in a fit of childish competition James pushed ahead of Albus calling over his shoulder "Come and catch me little brother!" and so it was that James Potter entered platform 93/4 with a smug grin on his face, until he crashed straight into his Aunt Hermione.

"Thank goodness you're here. Hurry up! The train'll be leaving any minute!" she cried pushing James towards the nearest compartment, with Albus and Lily right behind him as the rest of the Potters appeared. He could hear his family calling goodbyes and shouting reminders behind him and turned to pull Lily up onto the train, preventing Aunt Hermione from lecturing her too much. "We'll see you at Christmas! Bye Mum, bye Dad! Oh and don't even think about reorganising my room. Mum that means you."

"I'll write soon," promised Lily as she leant out of the window to give Ginny a final hug, "I know these two won't,"

"Ok, Mum you better let her go now the train's moving," added Albus grinning at his mother. The train was indeed moving and with last waves and shouts the parents on the platform started to shrink as the students started their journey back to Hogwarts.

"Right, I'll see you guys later," said James as soon as the platform was out of sight and tipping an imaginary hat to his brother and sister he strode off in search of his friends. They had much to discuss. James didn't need to worry about trying to locate his friends on the packed train the way other students did, he and his 'new marauders' had an official compartment. Really. Well the other students had learnt over the years that entry into that space uninvited could result in...well, anything, and most people weren't prepared to risk it. "Hello boys." James called, flinging the door open as dramatically as possible, "Did you miss me?" He smirked as he took in the sight of his three best friends. As in all friendship groups each person had an unofficial, but well defined role, so James expected that Sennin would spring up and join in with the over the top fun, that Alex would smile and role his eyes, maybe throw in a comment and that Lucas would giggle and go back to his book. The reaction he got was not what he expected.

"Mmm, yeah, hi James,"

"That's it? That's all you have to say about my triumphant return? I am appalled!"

"Triumphant return?" questioned Alex.

"Yes." said James indigently, "I have battled through swarms of Death Eaters just to get here!"

"I bet you had to rescue a dozen fair maidens along the way as well." Sennin quipped.

Any resentment at the lack of welcome vanished from James' head as he was reminded of his Brilliant Plan. Sliding the door shut behind him James slid into the nearest seat and beaconed to his friends to move closer and in a whisper he announced "I have a brilliant plan..."

"OH GOD!" The air of suspense was shattered by the cries of outrage from the other boys.

"No James, we can't go through another one of your 'Brilliant Ideas' not after what happened last year."

"Yeah, we are respectable marauders. We have limits you know."

But James Sirius Potter was not going to give up easily, "Come on guys! At least let me tell you what it's about."

The others exchanged glances.

"Ok, but this DOES NOT mean we will go through with it," Alex said after a moment.

"I need the best looking girl in school to go out with me." James watched his friends faces for a moment, Lucas looked dumbfounded, Alex skeptical and Sennin just laughed.

"Who on earth is going to go out with you?"

"Thanks for the support there Sen."

"No problem."

"Tsk," Alex sighed, "So where has this come from, it's not like you've ever wanted anything more than a one night stand?"

"It's Albus isn't it?" stated Lucas.

"Of course not. I just want a girlfriend, and I deserve the best." James answered with an easy smile, but subconsciously ruffling up his hair.

"But it will make you look better than him," persisted Lucas.

"Ok,yeah, but that's not the point. I'm gonna do this but I would like your help, cause, lets face it, girls are bloody scary."

Alex lent back in his seat, "It's not the worst idea thats ever come out of James Potter's Brilliant Ideas Machine, you know, it's pretty simple."

"Yeah, all we have to do is make the hottest girl in school go out with me, and there is no way Albus will be able to compete against that." James answered, his confidence returning now that he had the boys back on his side.

"There's just one problem," interjected Sennin, "How do you decide who the best girl in the school is?"


	3. The List

As normal everything is J.K. Rowling's apart from the OCs or anything you don't recognise, thanks.

Please read and review, especially if you want me to write more =)

P.S. all credit for the title of Chapter One goes to my good friend TheMissMod, thanks a lot

Chapter Two - The List 

The remaining train journey and carriage ride up to the castle passed in an unusual silence for the four boys, Sennin's question had alerted them to the major flaw of James' plan. The part that he himself had also forgotten about. James Potter's brilliant ideas always developed like this, he would have a sudden moment of divine inspiration about how to make the Slytherins suffer for beating them at Quidditch or how he could get revenge on Lily for attaching sequins to his clothes, he would plan it out but just when it seemed to him that nothing could go wrong someone, usually Sennin, pointed out the fundamental flaw in the plan. Sometimes James would admit defeat and call it off but not this one. He was convinced that as long as they picked the right girl nothing could go wrong, and the results would be spectacular. James knew how these things worked, he would be able to make Albus and the entire female population of Hogwarts jealous after one date, and then he could pick and choose. It was simply a matter of creating a short list of possible girls and picking one from that.

Entering the Great Hall for the first time that year dragged James out of his musings, the press of bodies on all sides and the immense noise of hundreds of students catching up after the summer made it impossible to concentrate. It did however provide a perfect chance to get an initial view of how the girls had changed over the holidays.

"Seen anyone good yet?" asked Sennin, voicing James' thoughts as they slid into seats at the Gryffindor table.

"What about...her, short hair, blond..." said Alex nodding his head towards a Huffelpuff girl who had just entered the hall. As one the four boys turned in their seats to asses the girl.

"No, that's Sophie Sanders, she's the one that threw up in the Three Broomsticks,"

"Urg, I remember that. She's not been out with anyone since,"

"I wonder why?" said Sennin sarcastically,

"Anyway that's a no. I can't go out with her."

"Ok...her, red head, Gryffindor, down the end of the table,"

"Lucas you idiot, that's Albus's ex!"

"Shush!" Interrupted Alex, "The sorting's about to start."

Sennin and James payed little attention to Alex's chiding and simply rolled their eyes at him and pulled out a scrap of parchment and continued to write and cross out names on it, passing it back and forth between them and Lucas. Alex ignored his friends knowing that it was pointless to try and stop them scheming. As the sorting continued the scribbling became more frantic and James found it harder and harder to stop himself from speaking aloud. Finally the sorting was over and instantly he exclaimed "But that can't be right!"

"Sorry mate it's the truth," replied Sennin with mock concern.

"What's happened?" asked Alex exasperatedly. Sennin turned to him with an expression of deepest sympathy, "Poor old Jamesy-boy has discovered that he will never get a date."

"We've run out of girls!" James cried, a look of horror on his face. If he couldn't find the right girl his plan would be ruined.

The boys didn't mention Hogwart's supposed lack of girls good enough to go out with James until the next morning. Lucas had been unwilling to contribute any more ideas after the harsh put downs he had received, Alex knew better to try and interfere in James' plan right now, the boy would overreact and then it would be impossible to calm him down. A distressed, overactive James was not a good thing, especially on the first day of term. And Sennin was too busy teasing James to be helpful. So James climbed into his four poster bed in Gryffindor tower going back over all the conversation from the feast wondering if in all the noise he had missed someone out.

The next morning however saw the return of James Potter's Brilliant Idea. As the four boys sat examining their new timetables James was able to voice the plan that he had spent most of the night working out.

"So I think we went about it the wrong way last night." he said taking a casual sip of pumpkin juice.

"Did what wrong?" questioned Lucas, his eyes still half closed.

"My Plan." said James, who was bouncing with energy in his eagerness to explain his developments, "We need a list. A proper list, of all the girls in the school from say fifth year up, with their pros and cons. Therefore, by the process of elimination, we will find my perfect date."

"Did you just say 'therefore'?" interrupted Sennin, "Bloody hell its Monday morning, don't go using long words like that James, my head can't take it."

"Ok, ok, I apologize for using such difficult words. But the Plan? It's genius isn't it?"

"I'm not sure about genius James but yeah its a start." admitted Alex. Lucas nodded his agreement and Sennin simply yawned but James took it to heart and with a huge grin plastered on his face set off for lessons and the discovery of his perfect future girlfriend.

Sorry its short but it felt like a good place to pause so that I can get into the real lists in the next chapter.

thanks for reading and please review.


	4. The Short List

Hi, again, same drill as always, I do not own the Harry Potter world or characters they belong to JK. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review, it really will motivate me if you want to read more. But, for now, on with the show. Thank you.

Chapter 3: The Short List

James was still in a good mood by the end of the day and nothing seemed able to put a dent in it. Not even double potions after lunch, something the Gryffindor sixth years were not at all happy about, or the unsettling rumor that was already circulating the castle. According to Albus, who had heard it from Hugo, who had heard it from Lily, who had heard it from a girl in her Herbology class, Rose Weasley had set up an unlikely friendship with none other than Scorpius Malfoy. Albus was furious, so was Hugo and they expected James to have the same reaction so they could go and put Malfoy in his place - as far away from Rose as possible. James however didn't have much of a reaction, he was too busy scribbling on a sheet of parchment to pay much attention to his brother and cousin. Albus and Hugo soon realised that they would have more luck talking to a chair at the moment and they slouched off, allowing Sennin the chance to investigate the sheet of parchment containing James' master plan.

"Whatcha doing Jamesy?" he asked sticking his head over James' shoulder to get a better look at what was written on the parchment, "Urg. Looks like homework."

James looked up at his best friend, scandalised, "Do you really believe that _I_ would be doing homework on the first day back?"

"Well if it's not homework what is it?" Alex asked, looking up from his homework, "You've been writing on that all day."

"It'll be Quidditch tactics," said Lucas, "It's always Quidditch," but James shock his head.

"No. This gentlemen, is the key to finding myself the perfect date."

The four friends stared at the parchment that James now spread out over the table for them to see. It was a chart, a complex looking chart, that one might, at a glance, take to be homework, in fact, James thought with a smile, that was the beauty of it, for only when you really studied it did you realise what the headings said. Running along the left side of the parchment was a list of all the girls in the same year as the boys, and across the top was written several headings, such as 'face', 'body', 'intelligence' and 'humor'. Currently it was blank.

"Care to explain your brainwave?" Sennin asked.

"It's simple really, we write down the name of all the girls in fifth and seventh year as well, and then when we have all the names we rate each category and the one with the best score will be the lucky lady that I will go out with and who will put my little brother to shame." James answered with a confident smile.

"You will still have to convince her to go out with you though,"

"Alex do you have to put a downer on everything? Anyway we can worry about that when we get to that." James replied, he was not going to let anything spoil step one of his plan.

"What does S.O.S. stand for?" Lucas asked warily, pointing at the last heading on the chart.

"Shoot on sight." James answered promptly, "For absolute trolls like..."

"Melissa Duncan." Sennin supplied helpfully, "Why is she even on the list? She looks like she was sat on by an obese dragon."

The others laughed as Sennin reached over and filled in a large cross by Melissa's name.

"One down, lots to go."

* * *

The chart became James' main priority over the next couple of weeks. It was a lot harder to fill in than he thought, it was easy to eliminate some of the girls but others required full scale debates, which mainly took place at the backs of classrooms and resulted in a mass of scribbled names and numbers all over the boy's notes.

"Ok. Claire Mills. I'd say she's a 7."

"7? Now way a 5 a best and then only if you look at her from the left."

"Well a 6 then, if you're being harsh, but she is pretty cute..."

"Yeah but definitely not in the same league as Laura Williams. That's a girl who'd take you for a ride you wouldn't forget."

Slowly the chart began to fill up and more and more girls could be discarded, eventually James was left with the final five; Suzanne Peters, Petra Stevenson, Violet Diamonds, Ruth Smith and Eleanor Jones.

"So, what now James?" Lucas asked as the four boys sat in the common room finishing essays and passing the short list between them.

"Now, we follow them."

"Follow them? Isn't that the same as stalking? James, no offense, but I don't think thats the best way to get a girlfriend." said Alex with a hint of anxiety in his voice, the idea of James Potter obsessively following a girl around was not a reassuring one.

"Calm down, it's the only way we can make a choice." said James reassuringly.

"Yeah, we know they're hot and all that now we need to work out what they're actually like. There's no point Jamesy trying to get with a girl who hates his guts."

James nodded pointedly at Alex, "There you go,"

"But wouldn't it make more sense to talk to them, you know turn on this charm you claim to have." said Alex, he had no intention of lurking behind bookshelves to stare at girls like a first year. Sennin and James however had different ideas and Alex didn't miss the smirk that passed between the best friends.

* * *

"I cannot believe I'm doing this." Alex muttered, fidgeting nervously behind the bookcases of the library.

"Shut up! She'll hear you!" Sennin hissed.

James didn't comment he was peering through a gap in the bookshelves at girl number four, Ruth Smith. She was sat at a table working, blissfully unaware of the boys watching her from the nearest bookshelves. James was trying to decide if she could be the lucky girl but wasn't having much success at thinking anything as he watched her soft brown hair fall over her face and with hawk eyes followed the movement of her hand as she pushed it back off her face. Ruth was definitely pretty, very pretty but so where the other girls, how James was going to choose between them was a mystery to him. His musings took him back to the times when, as a young child, his father had told him and his siblings about how he had met his mother and how he knew that she was 'the one'. Harry had talked about an instant gut feeling, that he just felt right when he was with Ginny. James pondered his current gut feelings towards Ruth, so far nothing. James' train of thought was interrupted however by Lucas elbowing him sharply in the ribs.

"James, check it out, three o'clock."

James had to hold back his laugh as he glanced in the direction of the library entrance. As fate would have it weaving her way towards the table Ruth sat at was none other than number three: Violet Diamonds. James sensed a collective sigh of appreciation from the others as four pairs of eyes were instantly drawn to Violet's swaying hips. Consequently the boys missed the brief conversation between the two girls but suddenly became very aware that Violet was heading straight for their bookcase.

"Shit! She's heading right for us. God we look like right freaks standing here, I told you this was a bad idea."

"Alex, shut the fuck up or she'll hear us!" James snapped rounding on his friend. Any retort was lost as James turned his head, ears pricked for the sound of Violet's approaching footsteps. The sharp sound of Violet removing the book directly in front of James' face made him jump to attention. So, very aware of the look of shocked panic on his face, like the four year old caught stealing from the biscuit tin, James found himself face to face with Violet. Her dark eyes met his for a moment before she smirked widely, spun on her heel and sauntered off. James' eyes followed her retreat with a glazed look for a second before he gulped and turned to the others.

"She's the one."


	5. Talking

_Sorry it's been so long, but I've had loads of work to get done. I'll try to update as often as I can but I'm not sure how regular that'll be. Anyway, thank you to the people who are reading this =) as always I don't own Harry Potter. The only current warnings are for the swearing. blah blah blah._

_That's all enjoy chapter 4 and please review XD_

Chapter 4: Talking 

James hadn't been prepared for how much the discovery of his perfect girl would affect him. It was the bruises on his ribs that alerted him to this fact. The bruises from all the times in the last week where he had found himself daydreaming in lessons, resulting to him looking like an idiot and sore ribs from the amount of times his friends had elbowed him in an attempt to snap him out of it. James couldn't help it Violet was perfect, he could not understand why he had been unaware of her existence for the past five years.

"I told you that you should have finished that essay last night. We've got Charms in ten minutes, you won't finish it in time."

"Oh for Merlins sake Alex, will you please shut up. Or do you actually want me to fail?"

"Of course I don't want you to fail, but if you listened to me in the first place then you wouldn't be in this situation, would you?"

James was not in the mood to listen to Alex's lectures, of course he should have finished it days ago, but he had been otherwise engaged.

"Mate, don't you think it's time you talked to her?" Sennin interjected as James bent over his parchment again, scribbling furiously.

James glanced up at Sennin, "Talked to who?" he asked, then almost gave himself whiplash as he turned his head at an impossible speed to follow Violet's exit from the hall.

"I think that was your answer," Lucas chuckled as James rubbed his neck.

"Yeah, as charming and sexy as you are, you will need to talk to Violet if you want to go out with her." Sennin added.

"I know that, I could just do with a little more of that Gryffindor courage." James looked thoughtful for a moment then frowned, "Did you just call me sexy?"

"From a girl's point of view." said Sennin smoothly.

"Of course. It's ok Sen, I know you want me." James retorted, winking.

"Er, yeah, anyway. James I wouldn't recommend doing that in front of Violet, you have no idea how gay that sounded." Lucas said.

"Yes, well as valid as that point is, we need to go." said Alex glancing around the hall, which was almost completely empty of students. James stared around the hall too, then down at his half finished essay.

"Crap."

* * *

"Sour old bitch." James muttered to himself as he made his solitary way back to Gryffindor Tower later that night. _She didn't need to put me in detention, dock a few points and demand it in next lesson, far enough, but to resort to that...No. There is no need for she to make me do that._ James was very much of the opinion that detentions were simply art and parcel of being at school, and were to be expected, but only when they were deserved. If you pulled a prank and got caught, as long as it was worth it, a little detention didn't hurt anyone. In this case however James thought his Charms teacher was being completely unreasonable, the situation was made worse by the fact that he would have been detention free if he had not been spending his time staring at the rather lovely ass of one Violet Diamonds. "It's all her fault!" he exclaimed suddenly, kicking at a suit of armour in frustration.

"All who's fault?"

James looked up and cursed inwardly. The object of both his desire and anger was walking towards him and, better yet, had spoken directly to him. Sweeping his hair back and attempting to smile nonchalantly he said, "Oh, just Professor Auty, she gave me a detention 'cause I didn't finish an essay."

"Mmm, well that sucks," said Violet, her half smile revealing how little she believed him.

"So, why are you down here? It's nearly curfew."

"Curfew? I thought you were supposed to be a rule breaking dare devil?" she smirked at him "It's one of the bonuses of being a prefect. I could also report you."

_O god_, James thought, _she is actually flirting with me,_ and as wonderful as that was James was also highly aware of the fact that in this situation he was required to answer, and answer with something equally witty but in accordance with the unwritten rules of the world, James was destined to come out with...

"Or you could tie me up and teach me a lesson." James cringed inwardly as he realised what he had said. Violet looked equally unimpressed.

"Sorry Potter, I'm not into that. And even if I was it wouldn't be with you."

"Aww, come on Diamonds, don't be like that. I've not done anything to you."

"No, you've not _done_ anything to me, but like most girls I don't enjoy talking about kinky domination." Violet answered sweetly.

"Kinky domination? Wow I would never have guessed that you were into that Vi."

The two teenagers turned at the sound of the new voice and watched the other Ravenclaw prefect saunter up the corridor towards them. "You didn't turn up for the prefect meeting, so I can to check that you were ok," he said by way of an explanation, "But I see that you and Potter are busy, so I think I'll leave you guys to it."

The arrival of her fellow Ravenclaw didn't appear to lighten Violet's response to the situation, in fact James watched her expression change from one of mild irritation to anger as she tried to avoid James' eyes and the suggestive winks the other boy kept throwing at them. However Violet quickly mastered herself and with a toss of her long dark hair and a backward glance at James she promptly dragged the other prefect away saying, "Don't worry Paul, Potter and I were most defiantly finished."

* * *

James had been prepared for set backs, he knew he would have to adjust to the personality of his chosen girl, and was ready to accept that, at first, they might not get on. He just hadn't expected it to be a result of their very first meeting. He knew the basics about Violet Diamonds, James wasn't stupid enough to dive right into a conversation with a girl without knowing anything about her, he knew that, as a Ravenclaw she was intelligent, also a prefect, but not a total teachers pet - there was an edge to her, one that he had now experienced first hand. He had a vague idea of who her friends were, well at the very least he could recognise them in a crowd, and knew what subjects she took, however as she was also a year above him, this didn't help him much. This realisation of just who he had taken on as his goal for the year was only just dawning on James. It scared him, if he was truly honest, he knew it would be a struggle to get her on a date with him, talent on the Quidditch pitch and social status could only get him so far. A lesser man might have reconsidered the options, looked perhaps at the other girls on the short list. But James Potter would never be anything less than a typical Gryffindor. He would not be intimidated by the challenge, a strong stubborn streak helped as well.

James had come to this conclusion during the long walk back to Gryffindor Tower, some part of his brain half wondering if he would ever be able to get his hands on his Dad's old map, he could do with knowing a few more short cuts. The majority of his mind, however, was plotting ways which he could appeal to Violet's better nature. But the sight of his brother approaching the Fat Lady from a different direction momentarily distracted him. "Hey, Al. What you up to?" James called out.

Albus turned, "Oh, hey, James, I... I've just been..." but James cut him off, taking in his little brother's slightly disheveled appearance (only someone with the same messy hair could tell when it was even more rumpled than usual) and his pauses,

"Have you been on a date? Cause I can tell you now, little bro that you will not be able to compete with mine,"

Albus stared at James with exasperation, "No._ I _have _not_ been on a date. I also doubt that you have, most girls don't like dicks."

"Is that why there are so many lesbians around? Wow you're so full of facts Al."

Albus scowled deeply at his brother's joke "That was one time James! One time. One girl. Anyway, if you had let me finish I would have told you that it was Rose who has been on a date."

James stopped reliving the memory of Albus' brief relationship with a Huffelpuff girl, who after one date had announced to him that she was a lesbian, to process what Albus had said.

"Rose was on a date? Our Rose? Who with?"

Albus didn't answer but raised his eyebrows and waited for James to work it out.

"NO. No, it can't be. Albus please tell me our little Gryffindor cousin has not just been on a date with Slytherin slime-ball Scorpius Malfoy."

"You got it in one. Well I think she has."

"What does that mean?"

"I saw them together today, and it looked pretty cozy, if you know what I mean,"

"Yeah, but you don't actually know if they've been on a date, am I right?" James asked.

"Well no, but come on James, we need to do something about this."

"What you need to do is talk to Rose. It might not be what you think. Not to mention the rant you'll get off Rose, and probably Aunt Hermione, if they were studying or something."

"But they weren't!" said Albus impatiently.

"Whatever Al. I have bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Like my new girlfriend."

Albus snorted, "Girlfriend? You don't know the meaning of the word. Come on then, who is it?"

"Violet Diamonds."


	6. Useful Connections

_So here is Chapter 5, please read and review and I hope you enjoy it =)_

Chapter 5: Useful Connections

Albus stared at James with an incredulous look on his face, "Violet Diamonds? You can't be serious? James there is no chance that I am even going to consider that. She would never go out with you."

James sniffed dryly and inspected his fingernails idly, "Well you'll just have to wait for me to prove you wrong." And before Albus had a chance to reply James was climbing through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. James kept walking, knowing that the only way he could get Albus to believe him was by acting completely normal. It's not like I've really lied to him, James thought, I've given him an insight into the future, warned him of what's to come. Professor Trelaweny would be impressed. But as easy as it was to pretend to Albus that he and Violet were now an item, James knew he had a lot of work ahead of him if he was to convince her, especially now she thought he was into things he didn't even want to think about, that they would be the perfect couple. James dropped into a chair in front of the fire where his friends were already seated. Sennin was draped sideways across a chair with his legs dangling over one side, absentmindedly chewing the end of a quill, smirking slightly as he watched Alex and Lucas argue over homework. Catching sight of James, Lucas launched himself at him, "James. James... Can I see your Transfiguration essay... please?"

Sennin snorted, "This being the essay you haven't started yet because it was 'really easy'."

"It is easy," Lucas retorted, "I just need to know how to start it. So James can I have a look?"

"Sorry, no can do."

"What? Why?"

"Cause I've not started it either, calm down Lucas."

Alex shook his head at them, "You'll be here all night."

"I've just been in a detention in case you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, how did that go?" Sennin asked.

"Meh. Same as always. But I did bump into Violet on the way back up here."

The three boys instantly looked up. "Oh yeah," said Sennin, "What happened?"

"She thinks I'm into bondage."

"Ahhh, I wondered who those furry handcuffs belonged too." said Sennin with a perfectly straight face. James threw a book at him.

"You're not helping Sen. How am I going to get her to even talk to me again? Girls like that give you one chance and if you mess it up then that's it."

"Why don't you just pick someone else from the list?" Alex, the voice of reason, asked.

"I, er, kind of already told Albus that me and Violet were an item."

Alex sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his face wit his hands. "Ok. This is what you are going to do. You will find Violet again and start a _normal _conversation with her, act like the perfect gentleman, get to know her, get her to like you then you might be in with a chance of a date with her."

The three others stared at Alex dumbstruck for a few moments before Sennin piped up, "Wow. Get you Alex. Since when did you get all insightful about girls and stuff?"

"Because, Sennin, I, unlike you can actually have a conversation with a girl with out her running away in terror."

"That's why I avoid the conversations. Go straight for the snogging."

"Isn't that why you've had a grand total of one relationship, and that lasted for, let me see, the whole of one month." said Lucas sarcastically.

"Yeah but how many times have I got laid compared to Mr. Sensitive over there?" retorted Sennin nodding his head in Alex's direction.

"Ok, however amazing your sex life is Sen, don't be put out when I follow Alex's advice." said James. Sennin merely shrugged.

"Just one thing James, do you have a time frame in mind?" asked Alex.

"Huh?"

"Well, how soon do you want to get with Violet?"

"Well asap, then I can prove to my dear little brother just who is the best Potter in Hogwarts."

"Right, because I think it'll take quite a while to get you and Violet to be an official couple so are you willing to use a few tricks?"

At this Sennin actively looked up from his feigned boredom and Lucas turned to stare at Alex again. "Have you been doing some behind the scenes planning we don't know about?" he asked.

Alex tried not to look too pleased with himself, "I have a few useful contacts that I think could really help us." the others simply stared at him waiting for him to elaborate, " I was wondering how you were going to prove to Albus, and the school, that you had really got with Violet Diamonds. I mean you've told too many stories for people to just believe it without proof, like a photo..."

"You want one of us to hide with a camera and take a picture of them making out or something?" interrupted Lucas.

"Sort of but not quite so simple. I was thinking more of an article in the Daily Prophet."

"Oh my God! It's perfect! If I get in the papers then people can't say I'm lying and everyone will see it! Alex you are a genius! What would we do without you?" James exclaimed. He heard the others talking out the details but he was only half listening. He knew it was an attention stunt but it would all pay off, he'd get to make out, hopefully, with one of the hottest girls in the school and if he was lucky she might actually like him, he could put Albus back in his place and everything would be peachy.

* * *

James' good mood carried through to the next morning. Stretching sleepily he lay back on his pillows for a few minutes listening to the sounds of his dorm mates slowly surfacing from sleep and let his mind wander back over the plan they had stayed up discussing last night. It really was perfect, and no where near as hard as he thought it would be. It was all down to Alex's contacts really, the new barmaid in the Three Broomsticks was an old friend of Alex's who owed him a few favours and this was the perfect opportunity to remind her of this. Louise Edgecombe was a typical gossip who would quite happily take a few sneaky photos and send them to the Daily Prophet with the juicy love story of the hottest new Hogwarts couple, James Potter and Violet Diamonds. And to achieve all this all James had to do was convince Violet to go to the Three Broomsticks with him, not even a real date, just so that Louise could see them and get the gossip flowing. James was confident that nothing could go wrong, well not so wrong that it would be unfixable, the brilliant thing about Louise was that she could turn the most innocent or disastrous meeting into a story full of drama, she never let the truth stand in the way of a good story. So in full confidence of his plan James swung his legs out of the four poster bed, "Morning boys," he said cheerfully.

"Urg. I can never understand how you can be so revoltingly cheerful first thing in the morning, and I am also aware that what I have to tell you might just send you into the disturbing realms of hyperactive happiness,"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake Alex! Get to the bloody point!" Sennin interrupted. Alex scowled at him, "You do realise Davis that your bloody interruptions are what actually stop us from getting to the point."

James rolled his eyes and started to look for his robes. He was used to Alex and Sennin bickering, and after sharing a dorm with them for six years he had perfected the art of tuning out what he didn't need to hear. It was a skill that incidentally came in very useful when visiting Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. When James thought about it he realised that Alex and Sennin would have never become friends if they hadn't been in the same dorm with him and Lucas, by now the four of them had been through so many near death experiences and detentions that they could help but be friends despite their differences. It probably helped that he had been friends with Sennin for a few years before they came to Hogwarts, and that Lucas tended to be very laid back, which kept arguments to a minimum.

"Right that's it just stop and tell James what's going on!" Sennin shouted.

"That's what I was trying to do in the first place before you interrupted me!" Alex shouted back.

"Louise is in." Lucas said, finally putting an end to the petty argument. James looked up fro putting his socks on, "What?"

"I owled Louise last night to check that she would be our contact and she's in but she wants to meet all of us and get the full story next Hogsmead weekend." Alex explained.

"If only we had my Dad's invisibility cloak, then we could go now." said James wistfully.

"Well we don't. Albus does and I doubt that he'd let us use it." said Sennin.

"Didn't your Dad have the map though? If we had that we could still sneak out even without the cloak." said Alex.

"Yeah the Marauder's Map, how cool would that be." said Lucas, "any chance of getting it?"

"The map? Not much. Dad keeps it in his desk at home, the draw is always locked. I've tried to get it but so far no luck. Anyway it's not long until the next Hogsmead trip, we don't need the map."

"No, we don't need it to get to Hogsmead but it would mean that you could bump into Violet by 'accident' quite a lot." said Alex, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

James narrowed his own eyes as he studied Alex's expression, "You've been planning this haven't you? You've got this even more worked out than I have."

"Like I said, I have useful connections."


	7. Short Cuts

_So I know it has been the most ridiculously long time since I have updated this (thats what happens when you start to write a fic just before exams) anyway this next bit of plot just came to me so I thought I'd post something, even if it's short to let you know I'm still here. Hopefully more will be coming soon, I may even start to build up to the slash ;) Anyway if you're reading this then thank you for checking out my story I hope you are enjoying it, why not review and let me know? :)_

Chapter Six: Short Cuts

After Alex's great revelation regarding his insight into the minds of the fairer sex, James had waisted no time before putting them into practice. He had found himself timing his exits from the class rooms to coincide with Violet's entrances, just so he could hold the door open for her. James had also heartily congratulated himself on helping her pick up some fallen books in the library which had earned him a short conversation and a dazzling smile. These small encounters were, in James's mind, the signs he needed to reassure himself that Alex's advice was sound and that it really might be possible for his plan to succeed.

James was also aware of a pressing new time frame, the dates for the next Hogsmead weekend had finally been posted on the common room notice board, and it was only a week away. He and the 'new marauders' had the Hogsmead weekend pinned down as their first major step in the plan's road to success. James was pleased it was so soon, his relationship with Violet was nothing more than civil with an occasional snarky comment but the fact that he was in her good books would make everything much easier.

* * *

James was late. This in itself was nothing surprising, the day James Potter was on time for a lesson would be a day that went down in Hogwarts history. He'd overslept, all the planning for Hogsmead and Violet had kept him awake till the early hours of the morning and when he finally had fallen asleep James had found himself drawn into complex dreams of which all he could remember was lots of lovely dark hair. Now he was charging down corridors towards History of Magic, normally he would have stayed in bed and not bothered with the lesson but it provided the perfect cover for the conversation he needed to have with the boys if they were to carry out Alex's plan. James rounded a corner at speed and dived through a tapestry that was concealing a handy short cut. Pausing momentarily to disentangle his robes from the edges of the tapestry James glanced ahead and saw that the passage was already occupied. James frowned slightly as he recognized the bushy red hair of the girl stood at the end of the passage.

"Rosie," he called out, wondering why she wasn't in a lesson. Rose let out a small gasp of surprise as she turned and saw her cousin watching her curiously. "Why aren't you in a lesson?" James asked, "It's not like you to skive, a goody..." but his comment died in his mouth as he caught sight of the very reason why Rose was hiding in a secret corridor, the very blonde reason.

"Malfoy," he breathed. Scorpius's eyes narrowed slightly as he edged slightly away from Rose. "So what are you two up to?" James asked coldly. The younger teens said nothing. James flicked his gaze from one to another, picking out details with his practiced eyes. "You've not... Have you?"

"Not what James?" asked Rose innocently.

James ignored her and strode towards Malfoy, stopping only a few inches from his face. "Have you been making out with my little cousin, ferret?" James growled. Malfoy stuck out his chin and squared up to James before hissing back, "So what if I have. What are you going to do about it?"

James felt something flick to red in his brain at those words. There was no way he would let this slimy, blonde, rich kid run his hands all over his little cousin. Without pausing to think James drew back his fist to punch Malfoy in his pretty little face, but Malfoy was fast. He ducked James's flying fist and dogged round him to run back up the passage towards the main corridors.

"Oh no you don't Malfoy." James yelled as he charged after the Slytherin. He was dimly aware that Rose was shouting for him to stop but he couldn't, Scorpius was a Malfoy and therefore his natural enemy. Malfoy reached the tapestry entrance marginally before James but it was enough of a lead for Malfoy to shoot out into an empty corridor and for James to follow, and crash straight into a group of Ravenclaw girls that happened to come round the end of the corridor at that very moment. By this time Malfoy had paused on the other side of the group of girls and Rose had caught up with the boys as James disentangled himself from the Ravenclaws, which included, James noticed with increasing embarrassment none other than Violet Diamonds.

"Everything alright Potter?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep, I've just got a little something to finnish off." James replied with a meaningful look at Malfoy and trying desperately to keep calm. The last thing James needed now was for all his good work to go to waste by looking like an idiot having family issues in front of Violet, but his anger at Malfoy wasn't allowing him to think straight. It also didn't help that all he could think of was how sexy people looked when they could raise one eyebrow like Violet was doing now. Sennin was the only other person James knew that could pull it off just as well. Violet glanced over her shoulder at Malfoy too, then to Rose, who was hovering behind James watching the situation warily.

"Has Malfoy done something wrong?" Violet asked.

"Damn right he has!" James exploded "he..."

But Violet cut him off "I was asking miss Weasley." she said looking pointedly at Rose. Rose blushed but when she spoke her voice was steady, "No, Scorpius hasn't done anything its my idiot cousin blowing things out of proportion."

James rounded on her "Out of proportion? Rosie you can't be serious! He's a Malfoy, a Slytherin!"

"I do know that James." said Rose icily, "And it's still my business if I want to be friends with him or not."

"Looked like more than friends," James retorted.

"Ok guys lets calm down," said Violet moving to stand between the arguing cousins.

"You can keep out of this." James snapped at her, "This has nothing to do with you." At that moment James didn't even care that he was doing exactly what he said he was going to avoid so that he wouldn't put his precious plan in jeopardy. Right now defending Rose's honor was all that mattered.

"No, but I am a prefect Potter." Violet answered swiftly, totally unfazed by James's harsh words. "Now Malfoy, clear off. Rose get to your lesson, and Potter, if I see you harassing either of them over this I'll report you for fighting." Violet stared at the stunned James, "Do I need to repeat myself?"

With no other option James threw a hate-filled glare in Malfoy's direction and another look at Rose that clearly said "this isn't over." before turning on his heal and heading again for History of Magic.


	8. Louise Edgecombe

_ So aren't you lucky, another chapter so soon, and a long one. So I hope that this makes up a little for my absence and that you enjoy it. Thank you to the people who have favourited this story, it means a lot, maybe you'll review this time ;) _

Chapter Seven: Louise Edgecombe

James was still fuming when he finally entered History of Magic ten minutes later, slinking into his seat and praying that Professor Binns wouldn't notice him. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture from a ghost.

"Cutting it a bit fine aren't we Jamesy?" Sennin whispered as James slid into the empty chair next to his best friend. "I mean lessons almost over. What's the point of turning up now?"

James simply ground his teeth together in anger and said nothing.

"James, what's up?" Lucas asked, leaning over the desk to get a better look at the messy haired wizard. James lifted his head to meet Lucas's eyes then looked past him to Alex, "I've totally screwed up the plan."

Alex looked slightly taken aback, "What? How? We're going to see Louise on Saturday, everything is going according to plan. I mean Violet even seems to be warming to you."

James groaned again in frustration.

"God, James, will you cut to the chase and just tell us what you've done then we can fix it." said Sennin impatiently.

"Fine. The plan is going to fall apart before its even got going because Violet now thinks I'm a dick."

"Didn't she already know that." Sennin interrupted with an evil smirk. James glared at him.

"I walked in on Rose making out with Malfoy, and I went to give him a piece of my mind, he ran and I crashed straight into Violet who saw the whole thing."

There was a moment of silence then, "Wow, Rose with Malfoy. I thought that was just a sick rumor." said Lucas.

"Yeah so did I, thats why I wasn't too bothered when Albus was going on about it. I didn't think Rosie would go with a Slytherin, and certainly not Malfoy."

"It won't last." said Alex confidently, the others turned to stare at him with raised eyebrows.

"Well, is it time for another dose of Doctor Alex's great insights into the female mind?" asked Sennin with light smile, nudging James in the ribs. Glancing at Sennin, James found, with a small jolt of surprise that his eyebrow was lifted in exactly the same way that Violet's had been not an hour before, there really was something about that expression that was down right sexy. He was going to have to learn how to do that.

"Er, James, care to come back to earth?"

"What?" James jerked out of his momentary lapse in concentration to see Lucas and Alex looking slightly worried and Sennin grinning, "I bet I know exactly what you were thinking about." he said with a wink.

Alex rolled his eyes, "Anyway, like I said, don't worry about Rose and Malfoy. We have to figure out what to do about you and Violet."

"I don't know what you're so worried about Alex," said Lucas "I mean, so Violet saw James telling Malfoy to stay away from his cousin. Its hardly the worst thing he's done, and everyone knows that Potters and Malfoys will never get along, so it shouldn't really be causing this much drama, should it?"

"You know I forget that you actually do know what you're talking about half the time."

"Gee, thanks Sen, you're comments are always so valuable."

"Always happy to help," said Sennin with smile, "but you know Lucas is right. Are you sure you're not turning this into something that it's not James?"

"Well, maybe she's not quite as pissed as I made out but I've definitely gone down in her estimations, cause she did not look happy, she payed more attention to Rose than to me, and even said she'd report me if I tried anything again."

"Hmm, well, yeah, I guess the situation isn't perfect but it's not the Titanic yet, we can still make this work. We go and see Louise on Saturday as planned and get some real female input."

* * *

Saturday couldn't arrive fast enough in James's opinion, he spent the remainder of the week trying to build his 'relationship' with Violet back up to, well, something. He made sure he was always around wherever she went, ready to hold doors, complement her, or just say hi. He didn't care if he was being ridiculously obvious in his motives, all James knew was that in order for the plan to work in any shape or form he needed Violet to be able to tolerate him at the very least.

James did have some encouragement other than that of the 'new marauders' he had noticed a gentle swing in the interests of the Hogwarts population. They had noticed that James Potter was on a mission. No-one was yet certain of what this mission was but six years of his pranks and plans told the school that something was brewing, the gossip mills had started turning and people were speculating on just what could be going on. James was very pleased at this turn of events, new interest from the students confirmed his belief that his plan would have the desired results. He was also quietly pleased that no-one yet knew that Violet was his plan, including Violet herself, this prevented him from rushing things and making a mess, and would also save his pride if something went horribly wrong. James was trying not to let himself think of the possibility of failure, not only because of the impact it would have on his social status within Hogwarts, but also because he found himself becoming more and more attracted to Violet. As strange as it sounded James hadn't really thought about the fact that he might actually want to go out with his show girlfriend, he had initially thought of Violet as a girl whose attractiveness would simply be a spring board to him being able to have any girl he wanted. But James couldn't deny that the time he spent chasing around after Violet were some of the highlights so far this year. The dreams were also a bit of a clue. James had found himself in the days after the incident with Malfoy that he was having encreasingly erotic dreams about Violet, well as erotic as it could be when all the dreams really contained was a lot of dark hair and a raised eyebrow. So all in all Saturday couldn't come soon enough for James.

* * *

The Three Broomsticks was packed when the boys arrived on Saturday, hurrying in from the cold autumn wind and adding their voices to the storm of noise that hit them as they entered the pub. James automatically scanned the room for anyone of interest and was pleased to note that of all the Hogwarts students present, Violet was not one of them, as much as he would have liked to see her Violet's absence meant that she would remain unaware of his plan.

"Come on guys, Louise said she'd be working the bar." said Alex leading the others to the far end of the pub. "Louise! Hey, over here!" he called, waving to a tall girl with mass of light, curly, brown hair that was clipped at the back of her head, in an attempt to keep the majority of it off her face.

"She's pretty," Sennin muttered to James, "How does a guy like Alex get to know a girl like her?"

James was prevented from answering as Louise swept over to the boys, hugged Alex, and turned to the rest with a mischievous grin on her face, "So I hear you have a little gossip for me."

She laughed at the dumbstruck expressions on the boys faces, "Lets go somewhere a little more privet. Roz!" she called over to Madam Rosmerta, who was busy behind the bar, "I'm going to take my break now."

"This really isn't a good time Louise! I need all hands on deck!" Rosmerta shouted back. Louise ignored her, "I'll be back in five!" and smiling sweetly turned to the boys again, "Follow me boys."

Louise led them through to the back of the pub, up a narrow staircase and into a small but warm living room. "Have a seat." she said gesturing to the sofa while she pulled out her wand to summon drinks. The boys sat, or rather squashed themselves onto the small sofa as best they could, with much muttered cursing as Lucas tried not to sit on Alex's hand and James tried to free his shoulder from behind Alex's back. Sennin gave up trying to fit on neatly and simply turned sideways and swung his legs over James's knees. Louise smiled at the sight as she seated herself across from the boys in armchair, directing the floating mugs of butterbeer to the low table between them with her wand.

"So," she said pulling her hair loose from it's clip as she spoke, "Alex tells me that you need a little help with your love lives."

"Er, not all of us. Just Jamesy here." said Sennin quickly.

"Uh huh," Louise didn't look convinced, but she let the comment drop as she turned her attention to James. "James Potter, eh. I can't imagine that you'd need much assistance in that department. Care to fill me in?"

"I don't need help in general. There's just this one girl and I've got to get her to go out with me."

"Really? Why her?"

"Because she's the hottest girl in the school." interjected Alex.

"Is that so?" said Louise with a soft smile playing around her lips.

"Yeah, she is actually." said James, "That's part of the reason it has to be her. I also told Albus, my little brother, that she and I were practically together, he wouldn't believe me and I've got to prove him wrong. Show him and the school that I can get with the hottest girl in Hogwarts if I want to."

"Well aren't we competitive. You don't want the limelight to be completely stolen by little Al before you've even left school, am I right?" Louise said leaning forward to simultaneously pick up her butterbeer and give the boys a direct view of her cleavage.

James gulped and tried to keep his eyes on Louise's face, "Yeah I guess that would be about right."

"So what exactly do you need me to do?"

"Well...er, I.." James was failing hopelessly at keeping his eyes off Louise's chest.

"What he means is, Violet hates his guts right now." said Sennin, cutting through James's stuttering. Louise leaned back in her chair and James breathed a silent sigh of relief. "You offended you're chosen girl, Violet? and now you need my help to get you two into some sort of relationship?"

"I told you she was good," said Alex from the end of the sofa.

Louise smiled again, "I take it that means I'm right."

"Yeah, but we have another favour to ask you."

"Really? Well I'm all ears."


End file.
